Biden meets Vietnam leader to counter Hanoi’s ties with China and Russia

NEW YORK – US President Joe Biden met Vietnam’s President To Lam for talks on Sept 25, aiming to deepen relations with the South-east Asian country and manufacturing hub, and counter its ties with China and Russia.

Mr Biden and Mr Lam, the ruling Communist Party chief making his first visit to the US as Vietnam’s President, met on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. A senior US official said they discussed how to accelerate a strategic partnership agreed in 2023.

On meeting Mr Biden on Sept 25, Mr Lam hailed what he called the US President’s historic contribution to elevating bilateral relations.

Mr Biden said that since beginning a new era in relations in 2023, the two countries had made historic investments in semiconductors and supply chains, and launched unprecedented cooperation on cyber security.

He also said they stood united in commitments to freedom of navigation and the rule of law – a reference to regional maritime disputes with China.

The Vietnam News Agency reported Mr Lam told Mr Biden that Vietnam was on the brink of a new era of development, and that it was a friend and reliable partner.

“Vietnam will continue to firmly implement its foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, multilateralism and diversification,” Mr Lam told Mr Biden, the state media agency reported.

Mr Lam met this week in New York with representatives of US companies, including Meta, which pledged to expand investments in the Communist-ruled country with a population of 100 million.

Vietnam’s President asked business leaders to back Hanoi’s bid to have Washington remove it from the list of non-market economies (NME) and lift other trade restrictions, and for the US and Vietnam to cooperate on semiconductor supply chains.

Recalling his address to the UN assembly on Sept 24, Mr Biden said: “There’s nothing beyond our capacity if we work together.”

US Representative Michelle Steel, a California Republican who represents a large population of Vietnamese Americans, wrote to Mr Biden before the meeting asking him to directly address human rights abuses in Vietnam under Mr Lam’s leadership.

Asked if Vietnam’s NME status was discussed, the senior US official told reporters: “They talked about economic cooperation broadly and plans to redouble cooperation with Vietnam.”

Asked if they discussed China, the official said: “The leaders acknowledged the fact that Vietnam lives in a complicated neighbourhood.”

He said there was a recognition that Hanoi “has to be very cautious and strategic to its approach to the region” and that the United States is a strategic partner.

Mr Alexander Vuving, a Vietnam expert at the Hawaii-based Inouye Asia-Pacific Centre for Security Studies, said the meeting was important to helping Mr Lam consolidate power after being confirmed as Vietnam's top leader in August.

He said it signalled Vietnam’s balanced position between the great powers, given Mr Lam’s recent visit to China, meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and the importance of the Hanoi relationship in US’ Asia policy.

Mr Lam spoke at the UN General Assembly on Sept 24 and his travels include a stop in Cuba, Vietnam's long-term Communist partner.

Ahead of his trip, the Vietnamese authorities released some prominent activists from prison before the end of their jail terms, sources told Reuters.

They included Mr Tran Huynh Duy Thuc, who was sentenced to 16 years in prison in January 2010 on charges of subversion, and environment activist Hoang Thi Minh Hong, who was sentenced to three years in prison on charges of tax fraud in September 2023, but other dissidents remain in detention.

Sources told Reuters that the United States has been urging Vietnam to avoid Chinese companies in its plans to build 10 new undersea cables by 2030.

Vietnam has long argued that it should be freed of the NME label, given recent economic reforms and that retaining the moniker is bad for increasingly close two-way ties that Washington sees as a counterbalance to China.

However, Mr Murray Hiebert, a senior associate of the South-east Asia Programme at Washington’s Centre for Strategic and International Studies, said it was not Mr Biden’s prerogative to offer concessions on that, given US Commerce Department criteria.

Opponents, including politically influential US labour lobbies, argue Vietnam’s policy commitments have not been matched by concrete actions and it is increasingly being used as a manufacturing hub by Chinese firms to circumvent US curbs on imports from China. REUTERS